1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multi-flash photography and other image capture systems. More specifically, the invention provides a photography system wherein the lighting environment for a single exposure is created and shaped through the sequentially firing of various flash devices with different lighting characteristics controlled in accordance with both a programmed template and a shared photometric detector located near the subject being photographed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of multi-flash photography systems in which the amount of light of the main flash unit discharge is controlled in accordance with photometric reading taken from reflected light from either the entire or different areas of the subject (or a scene/object) at a pre-flash emission stage that is emitted before the main flash discharge are known in the art. In these conventional multi-flash photography systems, one or a plurality of flash devices are activated to emit a preflash, which is used to calculate the light output required during the main flash discharge. These calculations are very complicated because various settings (illumination angle setting, subject distance setting, guide number, etc.) are generally different between/amongst the other flash devices.
Light metering is traditionally done either at the flash unit itself or through-the-lens multi-segment photo-metering elements built within the camera.
P&G's Olay Beauty Imaging System disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,571,003 and an article by Miyamoto and Hillebrand titled “The Beauty Imaging System: For the Objective Evaluation of Skin Condition” appearing in the Journal of Cosmetic Science, pages 62-65, January-February Edition 2002, and Canfield Scientifics' own REFLEC UV Instant Camera System and VlSIA Complexion Analysis System use both visible and UV lighting to enhance various attributes of the skin. Canfield also sells cross- and parallel-polarizing filter kits to enhance other attributes of the skin during image capture.
Unilever has disclosed in US patent application 2004/0125996 a method and apparatus that uses multiple wavelength light sources to capture a multiple images, each under a single lighting modality during image capture used to diagnose skin conditions.
Despite the aforementioned advances in the art, there remains a need for being able to precisely customize the lighting characteristics (spectral content, light polarity, directionality, etc.) as well as the intensity composition of the lighting environment at the subject being photographed ensuring reproducible image-to-image capture in such demanding applications as for clinical/medical research. Moreover, the system needs to be able to dynamically create this lighting environment during each exposure of a rapid burst-mode image capture sequence to minimize subject movement that would otherwise compromise the ability for accurate cross-comparison of images.